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THANK YOU We Did It!

Thanks to the support of over 600 readers, we were able to meet our $50,000 second quarter goal.

Editor’s note: This Q&A is one of many VTDigger will run throughout Election Day. Katharine Montstream, 50, is volunteering at the Burlington polls in Ward 6 this Election Day. She is a Ward 6 resident who voted for Obama in 2008, and said she would do so again this year. Why is it important to […]

Vermonters are in a position to repay some of the help that poured into the state last year after Tropical Storm Irene. Eight Red Cross volunteers headed to New Jersey Wednesday to help out, and Gov. Peter Shumlin is offering two Vermont Guard helicopters to relief efforts. At this point, though, it is more helpful […]

Two numbers stand out in a new study on recidivism rates among at-risk youth — 18.7 and 84. Young people who receive alcohol and drug abuse counseling at Spectrum Youth and Family Services have an 18.7 percent risk of committing crimes, while 84 percent of teens in the control group who didn’t participate in the […]

The Burlington Free Press announced Friday that it will undergo a major downsizing operation — it plans to sell seven of its 12 downtown Burlington buildings. The newspaper is scaling back its downtown office space from 55,700 square feet to 10,000 square feet. It will consolidate its editorial and business activity into this space, which […]

A blood alcohol test Wednesday morning of a Vermont Yankee engineering supervisor was above the federally mandated alcohol limit; plant authorities subsequently revoked the employee’s access to the plant. According to Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) spokesman Neil Sheehan, the supervisor was tested due to a red flag raised by coworkers, not a random screening. “It […]

Five Middlebury College students, masquerading as the college’s communications office, distributed a counterfeit press release last Friday, announcing that Middlebury was “fully divesting its endowment from war” in honor of the Dalai Lama’s visit to campus. Though the content of the release was false, it has incited plenty of media attention — its authors have […]

Gov. Peter Shumlin’s health care reform team is moving forward with the development of in-person assistance programs to help individuals, families and small businesses better access the Vermont Health Benefit Exchange. The exchange will become the state’s chief health insurance market come Jan. 1, 2014. Lindsey Tucker, deputy commissioner of the Department of Vermont Health […]

New testing shows that Chittenden Solid Waste District’s herbicide-tainted Green Mountain Compost may contain only one, and possibly two, herbicides. Also, it appears that reimbursements to customers will be less than the $1 million initially estimated. In July, the CSWD recalled thousands of cubic yards of compost that contained traces of herbicides — under 16 […]

The Burlington City Council will consider a proposal to consolidate oversight of the troubled finances and operations of Burlington Telecomm tonight. The mayor and a number of city councilors want to replace the previous advisory committee and Blue Ribbon Committee with a Burlington Telecom Advisory Board that is supposed to advise BT management, the mayor, […]

A debate last week teased out more differences between major party candidates Progressive-Democrat Cassandra Gekas and Republican incumbent Phil Scott in the race for lieutenant governor. Vermont Public Television moderator Stewart Ledbetter didn’t broach the topic of abortion, one of the more controversial issues which spurred a heated back and forth between the two candidates […]

Gov. Peter Shumlin made it into the Rolling Stone but not for his Beatles cover. The magazine has identified Shumlin as one of the top 10 “Best Politicians on Pot Reform.” It cites Shumlin’s decision to authorize a bill that allows four medical marijuana dispensaries to set up shop in Vermont and his participation in […]

The search committee winnowed the applicant pool for Vermont’s first secretary of education down to a handful of candidates during its meeting Wednesday. “We are moving ahead quite nicely,” said Stephan Morse, chair of the State Board of Education and a member of the committee. Morse said the committee received 20 to 25 applications and […]

At the end of last month, the Green Mountain Care Board submitted an application for a $60 million State Innovation Model (SIM) grant to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation. The grant would give the state the opportunity to build its data capacity and test new payment reform models that are aimed at cutting […]